50 comments:

At the start of this new era, I want to reaffirm my political position.

In the words of Brigham Young:

" Are we a political people? Yes, very political indeed. But what party do you belong to or would you vote for?"

"I will tell you whom we will vote for: we will vote for the man who will sustain the principles of civil and religious liberty, the man who knows the most and who has the best heart and brain for a statesman; and we do not care a farthing whether he is a whig, a democrat, a barnburner, a republican, a new light or anything else."

I did tell my husband that there is one way in which the world really may start to think better of the United States now that Obama is elected (besides the fact that they are sure to "like" any US president that seems like he'll talk a lot without doing anything) and that is that people in other countries know very little about the US, but they all know who our president is.

So NOW, when some dipwad like Erica Jong tells an Italian magazine that *everyone knows* US elections are rigged, that we're a country of hateful and violent racists, that it's *possible* that our military would take to the streets to fight our own citizens, and that she fears blood running in the streets... now when unhinged morons go to other countries and trash America the people who hear them do that, instead of thinking, "wow, she's from America and knows what she's talking about," they'll think... "But... how can that be true if Obama got elected?"

It doesn't matter, of course, that nothing really changed between yesterday when it was *classy* to slander your own country while traveling abroad, and today when even the most uninvolved Italian man-on-the-street has the evidence to call BS when hearing those sorts of hysterical ramblings.

Of course... we wouldn't have to prove to the world that we really aren't so horrible if the Erica Jongs among us hadn't been telling everyone we were.

Cool. Glad to see everyone so happy there. There was a bit of noise here in Brooklyn, but nothing on that scale.

Now, I just don't want this to be a regular occurrence. Aside from this instance, justified by the historic nature of the victory last night, crowds of people chanting in the streets because of a politician gives me the serious creeps.

My personal bit of schadenfreude will be when those glassy eyed hope and change kids get their first job after graduation and look at that paystub where taxes are withheld and their eyes glaze over. "Wait...you mean I had to pay for this stuff?

Oh and you think I'm kidding, my sis-in-law called my wife shortly after graduating and getting her first job and wondered what FICA was and why it was deducted. After being educated she insisted it was too much.

What crowds of young people and intellectuals following a charismatic leader? How could that ever end badly?

Well I don't worry about the college youths of today becoming the next sturmabteilung. You need to be tough to be a stormtrooper and by the looks of the Madison crowd, they'd have a hard time beating up my 11 year old.

Ha. That sounds a lot like my students. I did a casual poll of one of my classes and discovered that none of the enthusiastic Obama supporters nor the politically agnostic ever had a job other than standard teenage part-time fare like mowing lawns and lifeguarding. The less enthusiastic Obama supporters, and the McCain supporters all either had full time jobs under their belt or currently worked several part time jobs to support themselves.

"Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven." I saw Obama's acceptance speech. It was a fine speech with the right words and cadences to express the exultation of the moment. I did not vote for Obama, but truly his victory was a grand moment for his supporters and a validation of the processes of democracy....I have never heard a rap song or sent a text message. I came of age in a different time and perhaps I am deaf to the vibes of this age. Well, I never voted for Reagan, and he turned out all right. I hope that my reservations about Obama are wrong. At any rate I was sincerely moved by the joy that his victory inspired among so many people. However his Presidency turns out, his followers will have the fine memory of this night.

I was a liberal once too, and still consider myself a liberal in certain ways if I define liberal as a lover of liberty. But even in my moonbattiest days, I would have retched at the idea of running through the streets chanting about anything. I hope the healthy cynicism towards government so abundantly displayed in the last 8 years continues. If so we'll be ok, though it does worry me that Michelle Obama told me that Barack would demand that I shed my cynicism. Reason and cynicism are the only effective bulwarks against tyranny.

Congratulations to President-elect Barack Obama and his beautiful family.

Beginning in January, I will share a blog with a 2 friends that will constantly watch every Bush-like thing that Obama does, and then will match the hypocritical statements posted on blogs by Obama supporters with matching statements from their Bush -hating comment days.

It will be what goes around, comes around for those so immature that they want a pass for the grief they caused other Americans with their Bush hatred.

When a sample of what we'll be doing was run at a college recently (I was not yet involved), my friends received over a dozen death threats and hundreds of hate messages in the comments.

That is what America has become: "It's okay for me to hate you, 'cause you're a hater, but hey, man, I'll kill you if you call me wrong"

I'm sick of the irrational Bush hatred. But I'm disgusted by the people who let it go on silently: especially from the people who disagreed with Bush, but never had the cajones to stand up and tell the haters to calm down, and that it's wrong to hate.

The silent ones are the ones that ruined political discourse in this country. Do you believe that you get a pass for all the pain you let happen to sincere Bush supporters who also loved their country? When the "Decent" liberals in this country could have raised the discourse level yet stayed silent and lowered it by doing so?

What I can't figure out about my FICA deduction is why, since I make less than $90k, I pay FICA tax on ALL my income, while someone who makes more than $90k (or more than $10 million, for that matter), pays FICA tax only on his first $90k of income.

For the sake of our country, I wish Obama well. I hope he turns out to be the standup guy he has presented himself to be.

Like George Washington, Obama's biggest asset appears to be his temperament, a certain dignity and gravitas. But one of the things about Washington that was most admired was his reluctance to serve as president, and his refusal to serve a third term. How grand it would be if we could have a sitting president with the same ambivalence towards the exercise of governmental power. Of course, such a notion would be contrary to the rhetoric of modern presidential elections, and especially the rhetoric of Obama's campaign promises. The president is expected to actively do, do, do, all sorts of things, and to use the government's coercive power and threat of violence to solve all sorts of societal problems. Sitting around doing nothing other than keeping tabs on Al-Qaida would not suit Obama's projected image.

The true leftist position is a libertarian one. It takes some faith in the American people (something Obama claims to have in abundance), however, to just let us solve our own problems for the most part, without government cramming what it thinks good for us down our throats. You want social welfare? Drastically reduce or eliminate taxes on the lower and middle class, to reduce the incidence of dire need in the first place. (And Obama's suggestion that he will do this is one of the big things in his favor.) Stop giving the AMA their protectionist monopoly on medical care, which leads to artificially high health care costs. Let local government and private philanthropy take care of people in true need of medical or financial assistance, more directly and efficiently than the federal government can. End the government monopoly on lower education, and create a true free market there which will undoubtedly lead to lower costs.

You might note that SS benefits are based on the amount "contributed" and thus, no "contributions" no benefits. Furthermore, the formula is skewed to the lower paid, with benefits equal to 90% of the first dollars of wages, declining to 32% and then down to 15% for those at the maximum wages. All this nonsense about the "regressive" nature of SS taxes is a crock.

BTW, with an Obama proposal to remove the cap on SS, a self-employed person could be looking at marginal tax rates of 60%+ taking Fed State and SS taxes into account. That will be a great stimulus.

Well, hey, I predicted riots in case of an Obama victory, too. I posted video of some of the Boston riot following Game 6 of the 2008 NBA finals as evidence---video that was dominated, I might add, by white folks.

Well, I was wrong, it didn't happen. And that is good. Not sure whether I wish people would take the NBA Finals less seriously or the election more seriously, but there you are.

One small dose of cynicism shed, I guess. But I've got plenty stockpiled, should last at least through 2010.

Gotta love the left - when they win, they're all patriotic as hell, but if they're out of power then it is "Goddamm Amerikkka".

Sort of like how they deliberately depressed the economy by screaming "recession" for 5 years straight when there was no recession. It is extortion plain and simple - do it our way or I break your country.

what do you think social security is for? It's to provide a safety net for those who inevitably in our system aren't going to have the $$ to survive in retirement (like my immigrant grandparents). if there's a "crisis" in funding social security (a crock in itself), it could easily be fixed by lifting the cap on FICA taxes so that those who make over, say $500k (and won't need social security to survive in retirement) pay on that income over $500k.

Oh, but I forgot. Taxation is socialism. The roads, bridges, trains, armed forces, etc. of our infrastructure will magically be paid for from the untaxed free market.

I can say with some certainty that the ultimate goal of many of those young men was to hook up. But from the looks of it, standards would have had to be lowered. Looks like some Outward Bound returnees.

what do you think social security is for? It's to provide a safety net for those who inevitably in our system aren't going to have the $$ to survive in retirement (like my immigrant grandparents).

I'm certain Warren Buffet is heartened to know that. Maybe if SS was needs based you'd have a stronger case for that comment.

Oh, but I forgot. Taxation is socialism. The roads, bridges, trains, armed forces, etc. of our infrastructure will magically be paid for from the untaxed free market.

Interestingly enough, the list you provided are the very types of things that conservatives and libertarians think taxes SHOULD be used for. It's when my wealth is re-distributed to people who did nothing to create it is what smacks of socialism.

I suppose you are a product of the public schools, ignorant of history. If you knew anything about the creation of SS, FDR was quite insistent that it not be a welfare program and that the benefits be related to "contributions" aka taxes.

Criticize taxation and a liberal will start ranting about roads and defense - don't you want them? I say stick to common goods and ditch the robbing of Peter to Paul, George Ringo and John. That would keep the government small and free me to work for my own benefit (and give charity as I choose).

Wingnut prophecies of crazed hoardes wreaking massive havoc & devastation were just as reliable as their "permanent Republican majority" cant.

Gotta love the left - when they win, they're all patriotic as hell, but if they're out of power then it is "Goddamm Amerikkka".

Go & check out the comments on hillaryis44, LGF, NoQuarter, or FreeRepublic right now.

You won't have to look very long before you see your precious "God Damn America" - & an abundance of other idiocy much, much worse than that.

There's people on more than a few right-wing websites today talking about forming bloody miltias again, just like the 90s, & saying they refuse to accept Obama as their president - & some of them seem downright eager to start an orgy of mindless bloodshed.

Since they just spent months on end lying their asses off about Obama being a Muslim, a socialist, a Marxist & a lover of terrorists, it's hardly shocking that these same folks would now seriously contemplate becoming domestic terrorists themselves ... but it sure is sickening.

@wyatt - I'm afraid that until the politicians in Washington have to stop using current receipts for Social Security to pay for everything else then it won't ever be secure. You'll just push the "oh crap" date out a bit.

If, from the beginning, Social Security had been invested in, well, anything including gravel, and kept separate from the gov't budget we'd not be having this conversation.

I missed this earlier. How great for you to live in such an ebullient, joyous town. People here in L.A. just seem more relaxed than usual, like real relaxed. And mysteriously all of the retail establishments(Starbucks, Cheesecake Factory and Borders) that I went to today were busier than I have seen them in months. And I had a hard time parking at each location, which I haven't had in months.